Week in Review: 1/2-1/6

The first week of 2017 is almost passed. We started back to school Monday, and I am so glad we did. Not only do we all function better with a routine, but we had a major cold front come through the past few days. We have been indoors for several days, so I'm glad we could do school to help pass the long, cold days. Of course, these silly boys always find something to do!

Titus got a new toolbox for Christmas with a set of "real" pretend power tools. He quickly added his dad's hammer, a few nails, and a pair of work gloves to his toolbox. He totes this thing around outside, hammering nails into the ground and fixing all of their toys.

He is my preschooler. We started using Progressive Phonics Alphabetti books this week. I wasn't sure how he would respond to them. He is learning letters, sounds, and words all at once. He learned the "c", "a", "t", and "s" this week, along with the words "sat" and "cat". He has a reader that we read together - I read the black words, and he reads the red words. The red words are only the words he knows, sat and cat. He loves doing this each day! I even heard him telling Silas what the storyline was. He was very detailed and used lots of expression when narrating! He even explained the emotion of the cat in the story. I was impressed!

In math, we are reviewing the numbers 1-6, and I introduced the number 7 to him. He completed two worksheets a day, writing the numbers, counting the objects and circling the correct numbers, and cutting and gluing.

Silas is also using Progressive Phonics, the beginner reader. He went over the "at", "an", and "ad" families this week. He also reads the red words while I read the black words. He wants to read the whole story, but of course, he can't yet. He also has two activity sheets to complete each day. I use the words and sentences he is learning for his handwriting practice. He is getting much better at copying sentences, using capital letters and period and spacing between words. He can also spell the words in the word families he is learning. He learned to spell and write his last name this week, which made me so proud.

I purchased Math Mammoth level one for Silas, since Math Lessons for a Living Education wasn't enough math for him at this point. He reviewed grouping numbers into groups, addition, and greater than/less than. He loves completing these colorful worksheets. He can count from 1-100 with messing up too much and can read and write almost any 2-digit number. He has trouble with the teen numbers, which is funny to me. He can read 85, 72, 48, no problem. But he often calls 18, 81 or something altogether different. We're working on it!

We have been working on the very basics with him for a while, so I've been thinking about pulling out the Heart of Dakota guide "Little Hearts for His Glory". We started on it last year, but it quickly became too much for him, and most of the history and science was going over his head. I kept it all, and I think I'm going to go to the storage building and get it out to start using Monday. I will keep on with the phonics and math we are doing, but it will be nice to have a guide to use for Bible, science, history, and other fun things. If it's not written down, I probably won't do it.

Mercie is nearing the end of her third grade year. She started working on fractions this week in math and made a poster showing 1/2 - 1/8 fractions. She is still learning her multiplication and division facts, which is proving to be very difficult for her. We are working on 2s, 3s, and 5s right now. She gets division and multiplication mixed up and is very easily frustrated. We are moving slowly. She copies the fact families in her notebook daily, and I'm hoping this will help.

In language arts, I have been doing my own thing with her this week. She is almost through with Learning Language Arts Through Literature, and as I looked through the book, she won't be learning anything new. I really want her to have a better grasp on the parts of speech, so this week we reviewed nouns and verbs - common and proper nouns, past, present and future tense verbs, and more. I gave her ten spelling words which she already knew or learned easily. She began reading "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" this week. I came up with some fun extension activities for each chapter. She has learned what an onomatopoeia is, drew several pictures and had copywork from the book.

In history, she read about Squanto and made a Notebooking page for him. She is reading about William Penn today. She was excited to tell me how Pennsylvania got it's name! I love when my kids are excited about learning.

In science, she is learning about the different classes of vertebrates and making a small book for each class. She loves the fact that she gets to get on the internet and print out pictures of animals! She glues them to paper and writes facts from her book. She thinks it's a lot of fun.

Eli is my 7th grader using Bob Jones through the DVD classes. Here is a breakdown of his week.

Life Science: This is one of Eli's favorite subjects. He loves the teacher, Mrs. Vick. She makes the lessons so much fun. He finished chapter 3 this week and took the test, which he made a 28/30 on. Mrs. Vick does "Investigations" which are like science experiments, quite often. Eli enjoys watching her do these while he fills in the appropriate worksheet.

World Studies: Eli isn't crazy about this subject, but he does learn a lot. He started Unit 2 this week, "Changes and Development in the Cultures of the World". He learned about Africa this week - the African family and society, religion, art and architecture, early African empires, and commerce in West Africa.

Fundamentals of Math: Eli learned about scientific notation this week and how to perform operations in scientific notation. He also had a cumulative review today and has a test on Monday. I'll have him do a few problems over the weekend from his lessons. They are only assigned the "odd" numbers, so I can have him do some of the "even".

Writing and Grammar: Eli has done well in this subject so far. He has been learning about linking verbs, principal parts of verbs, and tenses.

Bible: He is learning about the holiness of Christ.

Mikaela is my 9th grader also using Bob Jones through the DVD classes. Here is her week:

Physical Science: She had a few hard lesson in Physical Science - really, this is the hardest subject she has. I have such a hard time helping her, even after I read the lessons and study the teacher's guide. She is learning about scientific measurements, which sounds really simple, but it's not!

Cultural Geography: This is her favorite subject! She really likes the teacher on the DVDs, Mrs. Bullock. She finished chapter 3, made a 100 on her chapter 3 test, and completed a fun Island project. She had to draw an island, name it, and label 20 geographical locations on her island and name them. The island's name and geographical locations had to center around a certain theme. For some reason, she chose Potato Island as the name and had fun naming the locations - Mashed Potato Mountains, Grated Potato Gulf, and Baked Potato Beach are a few!

Algebra I: Math is Mikaela's weakest and least favorite subject. She is actually doing pretty well this week learning how to solve multi-step equations and simplify equations. She does Algebra last so I can sit with her and help her. She watches the video by herself, but she usually needs a little help with the lessons.

Writing and Grammar: She doesn't usually need any help from me with this subject. She learned about pronouns this week - demonstrative, interrogative, reflexive, intensive, indefinite...and several more types.

Bible: She is learning about the functions, history and chronology of the Bible. She doesn't have a Bible video every day, but she always has an assignment.

Whew! I was afraid I wouldn't be as involved in their school as I normally was since they have been using the DVDs, but I have to grade and check work almost daily! I think I know more about what they are learning now than I ever have! It's been an adjustment for all three of us, but I think we're finally getting into a groove with it. We are usually done by 1:00 each day when we start at 8:30. They are allowed a ten minute break between subjects, but they don't always take it. Sometimes they take it between two subjects.

We also played the game Blokus almost every day this week! This is my new favorite game. The kids love it, too!

We are still on a break from gymnastics, karate, and piano lessons. It's nice not to be rushing around all the time, especially in this cold!

How was your week?